ROKOKO JAZZ

Description

'Rokoko Jazz' was Eugen Cicero's first record for MPS in 1965, and it also marked his big breakthrough, selling over a million copies worldwide. With his frenetically swinging versions, Cicero proves that his nickname "Mr. Golden Hands" is truly deserved. Here is a reissue of 'Rokoko Jazz' on CD (Digipak) and 180gr Vinyl. The original master tape was digitized for the audio in the usual MPS quality and refreshed for CDs and LPs with subtle remastering. The foreword is written by Swiss jazz drummer Charly Antolini, who not only played drums on this album but also brought Eugen Cicero to the MPS label in the first place. Liner Notes: "Bach's Softly Sunrise": All Cicero is embodied in this recording and in this title. "Swinging Bach versions" are fashionable today. But from Benny Goodman's "Bach goes to town," recorded 25 years ago, to everything the Swingle Singers and Jacques Loussier are doing today, I don't know a single "Swinging Bach" that speeds up as fast... dynamic rhythmic as this one. Cicero doesn't swing his Bach because it's the fashion of the day. He swings it because his music thrives on the tension between what the recording industry calls "classical" and jazz. This is not only evident in "Bach's Softly Sunrise," the brilliant combination of Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata in D minor and Richard Rodgers' beautiful melody "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise." This melody has often provoked baroque and counterpoint shenanigans, but Cicero not only gives it a touch of Bach; he also adds a strong pinch of Charlie Parker. From Couperin to Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, born the same year as Bach, to Karl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Mozart, our record takes you through one of the great centuries of Western music, traveling from baroque to rococo to early classical. The focus is on rococo – the sensitive and gallant style of the 18th century, reminiscent of Nymphenburg porcelain, romantic pastorals, and lavish court festivities. I have an old German Brockhaus encyclopedia from 1903. Look up the keyword "Rococo" and in this archaic language, you will find everything you need to know about Cicero's music. "The hallmark of Rococo is the dissolution into light, delicately winding lines... floral, the framework envelops the content, entwines it like a living organism... Rhythm elevates Rococo to a style..." Cicero treats the compositions of these great 18th-century composers with respect and admiration. It is rare for themes and melodies to gain clarity and contour by someone who loves to play them "true to the original." You can feel this particularly strongly in Cicero's version of the old hymn "Have Mercy, My God" from the St. Matthew Passion and in Mozart's Fantasy in D minor. The latter is one of the most successful tracks on our record... Anyone who took piano lessons in their youth will have moments of nostalgia listening to what Cicero does with Solfeggio, a composition by Bach's son, Philipp Emanuel. However, his real name is not Cicero. As for his real name, very early on, Eugen Cicero gave up keeping it. Who in our part of the country can really pronounce that? "Ciceu," he imagined: "it sounds like Cicero." Well, it is Cicero. Eugen Ciceu-Cicero was born on June 27, 1940, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The four-year-old learned his first Mozart sonatinas from his mother. His brother introduced him to jazz. Adrian Ciceu is one of Romania's most famous jazz drummers and jazz critics. In 1950, at the age of 10, Cicero gave piano concerts on Bucharest radio. Aurelia Cionca, Romania's most famous pianist, noticed him and invited him to study with her. He then studied at the National Conservatory of Bucharest. His phenomenal piano technique was quickly recognized. At the age of 16, he received first prize in the Romanian national competition for young musical performers... and had to settle for a certificate because he was too young to receive the official award. Then came the big turning point. At 18, he formed his first jazz quintet with his brother Adrian Ciceu. He gave concerts in Romania and Czechoslovakia, recorded, and played on radio and television. Then his brother, who came from jazz, went to the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra, and Eugen, who came from concert music, had landed once and for all in jazz... He went to Austria and Switzerland via the GDR. There, the other musicians he had brought with him from Romania left him. Not to go home, of course, but to go to America. And Freddy Brocksieper, who played jazz longer than any other German-speaking musician, that is, for more than thirty years, brought him to Munich and introduced him to the West German public. On the record, Cicero plays with bassist Peter Witte and Swiss drummer Charly Antolini. Both musicians play with the Erwin Lehn orchestra from Stuttgart. In their combination of jazz-worthy freedom and professional studio experience, they form the ideal rhythm section for Cicero. When asked about a hobby, Cicero says: "I have no hobby other than the piano." Counter-question: "But playing the piano, isn't that your job?" Answer: "Oh yes, I had completely forgotten..."